Redshirt senior quarterback Taylor Kelly celebrates with redshirt junior right guard Vi Teofilo after Kelly scored a touchdown against Notre Dame, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. The Sun Devils beat the Fighting Irish 55-31. (Photo by Ben Moffat)An impressive run by ASU has the Sun Devils sitting pretty in the College Football Rankings as a win over Notre Dame vaults the Sun Devils to the No. 6 spot.
Between the first and second week of the rankings, ASU jumped from No. 14 to No. 9, the biggest movement of any team, and after taking down the then-No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Sun Devils have cemented their place in the top 10.
ASU remains one of only a handful of teams in the country that controls its own destiny. Many experts surrounding the Playoff Committee believe that if ASU wins out, including a win over Oregon in a presumptive Pac-12 title game, then the team will be almost assured a berth in the four-team playoff.
The Sun Devils benefited from a number of teams ahead of them in the rankings losing last weekend.
Michigan State lost to Ohio State and dropped to No. 12 and Kansas State was knocked to No. 13 by TCU in a pivotal Big-12 game.
Baylor and Ohio State both made big moves as Ohio State jumped to No. 8 and Baylor to No. 7 after wins on Saturday.
No. 2 Oregon was tested by Utah as the Utes trimmed Oregon's lead to just three in the final quarter and No. 5 Alabama was pushed to overtime by SEC rival LSU but both teams were able to pull out the win and remain ahead of ASU.
The Pac-12 has been well respected in the top 25 so far with five ranked teams in each version of the polls.
Utah dropped to No. 23 from No. 17 after its loss at Oregon, UA got back on track and sit at No. 14 and UCLA continued its resurgence, coming in at No. 11.
College Football Playoff Committee Top 10
1. Mississippi State
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. TCU
5. Alabama
6. ASU
7. Baylor
8. Ohio State
9. Auburn
10. Ole Miss
Reach the sports editor at icbeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @ICBeck21
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